Olivera, McCarty win Semana Nautica 15k

Robert Olivera and Sergey Sushchikh’s friendly rivalry was at an all time high during this year’s annual 4th of July Semana Nautica 15k race. Olivera won the race with a time of 48:36, and with Sushchikh right behind at 48:39.

The two runners faced each other at last year’s 15k and are no stranger to one another’s competitive nature. Olivera bettered his time by 1:19 from 2012.

Thursday’s race was the 59th Semana Nautica 15k.

“Last year he beat me — just smashed me. I had a huge improvement here today. A huge improvement,” said Olivera.

The two battled towards the end of the course, but Olivera edged just enough to come out on top.

“I made a slight move on him before reaching the bigger hill. I said to myself, ‘All right, you got to go. It’s going to hurt but he’s already backing off – if I can manage to make it up the hill, I think I can distance myself enough from him,” said Olivera about his opposition.